How Bud Light’s storytelling formula took inspiration from “Game of Thrones”

Bud Light’s epic journey back to cultural relevance began with questioning the fundamentals of advertising.

“What if, instead of creating campaigns, we started to have chapters?” asked Marcel Marcondes, US chief marketing officer at Anheuser-Busch InBev, the manufacturer of Bud Light.

“What if we create a world? Why don’t we bring people into our world – and whenever we release a new piece of content, we release a new chapter? Why don't we change the way we think about Bud Light campaigns?”

The answer to these queries is embodied in a commercial from the 2019 Super Bowl. The spot involved various recurring brand characters – including a medieval king, queen, and the heroic Bud Knight – becoming embroiled in a melee that featured “The Mountain”, a fearsome knight who appears in “Game of Thrones”, as well as a dragon from the popular fantasy series that airs on cable network HBO.